* Soup (Spanish)
* Sweet bread (Spanish)
* Assholes
* Sister
* Aunt (Spanish)
* Uncle (Spanish)
* Yes (Spanish)
CHAPTER 24
Gustave
It’s September.Les vendanges?* in Burgundy. I should be heading to Pommard to forget the city and the names that haunt it, but I don’t want to go.
Not without her.
I have had time to think—too much time—and the truth is thatI fucked up. Now that I’m not being driven by fear and outrage, I know Tara would not have done what I accused her of.
I should have talked to her. I should have listened. I should have been careful with her.
I wasn’t.
I tried to reach her. But she’s blocked me.
I tried to talk to Cece. Shetold me to go fuck myself in both French and English, then called me an idiot.
“Can you at least tell me how she is?” I pleaded.
“No,” Cece snapped. “Because you don’t deserve to know.”
I called the Louvre and threatened them until my voice was hoarse. They sent her an email, telling her they’re rescinding her termination. She turned them down.
Not surprising.
I have no sway in the United States, so I can’t undo what Giselle did by having Tara fired at her job in Philadelphia.
“Giselle will pay,” I tell Philippe one night, bitter.
He rolls his eyes. “Youare the problem, Gustave.Simoneis the problem. Not Giselle.”
He isn’t wrong.
“I want to make this right. Apologize for how I behaved. I tried to call her, but—damn it, Philippe, she’s blocked me.”
“Non!” he says in mock horror. “What the fuck did you expect?”
I know I have lost her. I always knew it would end eventually, but not like this. Not so ugly. Not by my own hand.
Guilt crawls under my skin. It won’t leave.
She haunts me.
My life feels like it has stalled. I don’t know how to start it again.
